on the results of the March session of the IAEA in Vienna: Russian Foreign Ministry

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#Vienna #MikhailUlyanov #Ульянова (#ZNPP) #IAEA #МАГАТЭ #ZaporozhskayaN #Ukraine: (with English subtitles) on the results of the March session of the IAEA in Vienna: Online briefing by Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov at the international multimedia press center «Rossiya Segodnya»

❓Could you comment on the results of the March session of the IAEA Board of Governors. What topics were discussed?

💬 The Board of Governors is one of the two policy-making bodies of the IAEA. There is the General Conference, in which all member countries participate, and there is the Board of Governors - this is a club, so to speak, of the chosen ones, 35 states, I have been the Governor from the Russian Federation in recent years. If the General Conference meets once a year, usually in September, then the Board of Governors, as a rule, meets in March, June, September and November, but there can also be extraordinary sessions, any country can initiate such a meeting. The last time was in December, when Ukraine made efforts to pass a Board of Governors resolution calling for refraining from attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure facilities. And then the Director General was instructed to monitor this issue, which clearly goes beyond the mandate of the Agency, which deals not with electric but with nuclear energy

💬 Russia has been a member of the Board of Governors since the establishment of the IAEA, an attempt to change this was made by the Ukrainians in June 2024. They counted on the support of our opponents, but were disappointed, no one, including the United States under the Joe Biden Administration, expressed a willingness to question Russia's membership in the Board of Governors

💬 In March 2025, another session with an extensive agenda was held, it lasted from Monday to Friday. Probably the most interesting issues for the public are Ukraine, Iran, Syria, the DPRK, that is, such «country», as they say here, issues. I will say a few words on Ukraine

💬 The Ukrainians were going to pass another anti-Russian resolution, they did not find the necessary support, everyone is a little tired of the Ukrainian topic, but instead of a resolution they achieved the adoption of a collective statement of 47 countries with an anti-Russian orientation. The document is shameful, senseless, each time it causes, frankly speaking, a feeling of irritation, bewilderment, and no more or less professional serious conversation takes place. We always try to support our position, explain, in response we hear cliches and it never works out to lead to a serious conversation. We are presented with deliberately absurd claims. This statement, which was read by the Ambassador of Canada, says that Russia allegedly obstructs the work of the IAEA in Ukraine and exerts unprecedented pressure on the Agency's personnel. We don't let such things slide, I demanded that the Canadian explain what he meant, because we know nothing about any «obstruction» and the IAEA Secretariat has never complained on obstruction - sometimes we have different opinions on certain issues, but in general, we cooperate quite constructively. The Canadian was confused, started answering completely different questions than the ones I asked him, then someone told him that the Director General's report mentioned the fact that Agency employees are not always and not everywhere granted access to the Zaporozhskaya NPP (ZNPP). Calling this «obstruction» is an outright farce. Indeed, access is sometimes not granted, but this is due to security considerations, after all, the plant is on the line of combat contact

Russian Foreign Ministry.